Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor met with Department of Public Works officials to assess the city’s response to the recent snowstorm and plan for future improvements, including purchasing new plows and training drivers.Two key goals discussed between Mayor O’Connor and Pittsburgh Public Works were training newer plow truck drivers and securing new plows. Just last week, the city received a $2 million donation to buy 15 new plow trucks and a $10 million donation for ambulances, freeing up funds to purchase an additional 35 plow trucks.”The money just came in last week, we can get them in six to eight months, but in the meantime, I think summer, we really have to train more drivers so that they’re prepared,” O’Connor said.O’Connor noted the need for more training for new drivers on Pittsburgh’s tighter streets and hills.”We know a lot of drivers we heard aren’t trained, and how do we get them trained? What do we need to do over the summer to do a lot of those things so it makes their lives easier,” O’Connor said. “But then, also as foremen, as leaders of these divisions, how do we make your life easier so that the drivers feel comfortable doing the trips when they need to go down hills, up hills.”Several Pittsburgh parks trucks were temporarily outfitted for snow response and will continue to be used throughout the rest of the season. Public Works Acting Director John McClory and other officials said a win was the usefulness of contractors called in to help plow.”We have contractors on standby. Joe monitored that, and we got them all online. Told them we may need them, and we did. We needed them in some areas and got them into our business districts,” McClory said.”They were there ready to go, just waiting on our call Monday. They were excellent,” another DPW official responded.O’Connor said placing an order for the 50 trucks is at the top of his to-do list, and he hopes to have them by next winter.Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel

PITTSBURGH —

Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor met with Department of Public Works officials to assess the city’s response to the recent snowstorm and plan for future improvements, including purchasing new plows and training drivers.

Two key goals discussed between Mayor O’Connor and Pittsburgh Public Works were training newer plow truck drivers and securing new plows.

Just last week, the city received a $2 million donation to buy 15 new plow trucks and a $10 million donation for ambulances, freeing up funds to purchase an additional 35 plow trucks.

“The money just came in last week, we can get them in six to eight months, but in the meantime, I think summer, we really have to train more drivers so that they’re prepared,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor noted the need for more training for new drivers on Pittsburgh’s tighter streets and hills.

“We know a lot of drivers we heard aren’t trained, and how do we get them trained? What do we need to do over the summer to do a lot of those things so it makes their lives easier,” O’Connor said. “But then, also as foremen, as leaders of these divisions, how do we make your life easier so that the drivers feel comfortable doing the trips when they need to go down hills, up hills.”

Several Pittsburgh parks trucks were temporarily outfitted for snow response and will continue to be used throughout the rest of the season.

Public Works Acting Director John McClory and other officials said a win was the usefulness of contractors called in to help plow.

“We have contractors on standby. Joe monitored that, and we got them all online. Told them we may need them, and we did. We needed them in some areas and got them into our business districts,” McClory said.

“They were there ready to go, just waiting on our call Monday. They were excellent,” another DPW official responded.

O’Connor said placing an order for the 50 trucks is at the top of his to-do list, and he hopes to have them by next winter.

Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel